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Neuroscientist wins $50,000 award from Bristol-Myers Squibb

Geneticist Alex Markham to be chief executive of leading charity

Global conference sets agenda for research to control future outbreaks

DNA-repair researchers trying to separate sound science from allegedly false data in retracted papers

At first global meeting of SARS scientists, China claims its outbreak under control

SARS conference to set next research and surveillance objectives

University of California to use its electronic superarchive as platform for launching journals

Critics call biothreat analysis at new Homeland Security department dysfunctional

Photos courtesy of TransForm Pharmaceuticals (left) and Pioneer Hi-Bred(center and right) The majority of participants in The Scientist's "Best Places in to Work for Scientists in Industry" survey reported that they valued their workplaces because the companies maintained industry standards, kept promises, and sustained the staffs' pride in their work. The magazine asked employees in life sciences companies to evaluate their own workplaces and identify company characteristics that employees c

In 1909, the Danish biologist Wilhelm Johannsen coined the terms gene, to describe the unit of heredity, and genotype as the entire genetic profile of an organism. Seven years later, the term biome appeared, used to describe an ecological community of organisms and environments. As technology progressed, it became possible to do high-throughput molecular biology, and we began exploring the genomes of various microbes. This essentially entailed sequencing and annotating the entire genetic com

 Click for larger version (35K) We asked our readers with postgraduate degrees how long they spent in postgraduate education and in postdoc positions; 215 responded. The average time spent in postgraduate study, which varies by country, was 4.9 years. Students in both the UK and Germany devote an average of 3.5 years; in the United States and Canada, the average is 5.5 years. The vast majority, 83%, went on to nontenured or nonpermanent positions--mostly postdocs--after completing their

Foundations | The Death of a Cell  Click for larger version (21K) In the autumn of 1974, more out of curiosity than of any particular plan, I sat down to watch newly hatched nematodes. The idea was to see where certain, late-developing neurons came from. At first the details were hard to follow, because the larvae jittered around. But I learned to keep them well fed, contented, and growing normally. The first time that I saw a cell division from beginning to end was a wonderful revelat